LA CAO says airport talks have been halted with Ontario

Negotiations with Ontario for local control of LA/Ontario International Airport have ended, according to a report issued by Los Angeles' top administrator to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

"Notwithstanding the extensive negotiations over a six-month period, the recent legal claim filed by the City of Ontario against the City of Los Angeles has ended further negotiations," Miguel Santana, city administrative officer wrote in the report released late Monday.

Santana said the two entities have met eight times over a six-month period.

In the four-page report, he detailed what action the city and Los Angeles World Airports should take in response to the legal claim filed by Ontario last week.

He offered two recommendations.

The first requests Santana work with LAWA to examine other alternatives to manage ONT and report back with recommendations to the council.

Santana also recommends Villaraigosa direct the city attorney to work with LAWA and himself to determine the validity of Ontario's claim, and what legal options it could pursue. The city attorney would then advise the CAO and LAWA on how to proceed. A report on the developments would be given to the city council.

Ontario filed a claim with L.A. on Thursday seeking to dissolve the 1967 joint-powers agreement that rescued ONT from failure in 1985 but now is blamed for strangling the airport's prospects. Ontario officials contend LAWA is putting its resources into LAX and mismanaging ONT.

Despite the claim, Ontario officials have made it clear they are willing to continue talks with L.A., said Chris Hughes, Ontario city manager.

As of Tuesday, Hughes said he had not heard from LAWA regarding negotiations or the administrative claim, which is the first step in filing a lawsuit. L.A. has 45 days to respond.

"We're still very interested and very committed to a transfer of local control of the airport," he said.

Whether negotiations are completely over remains to be seen, as Los Angeles is in the middle of electing a new mayor who could decide to go in a different direction.

Ontario officials said LAWA, the agency that manages ONT, Los Angeles International and Van Nuys airports for the city of Los Angeles, set a sale price of $474 million for ONT - nearly double the $250 million Ontario offered last year.

Ontario last week rejected the price. In its own valuation, city officials contend the airport is currently not worth as much as it costs to operate it.

Santana's report states that Ontario originally agreed to sell Ontario International Airport, which included 485 acres of land, for $5 million. Since then, LAWA said it has invested more than $560 million building the twin terminals, improving the runway and modernizing the baggage system. The funds did not come from L.A. but various federal grant and passenger fees collected by the airport.

But Hughes said he has not seen any documents to prove Santana's conclusions.

In September, Santana issued a 100-page report recommending the city open negotiations with Ontario.

The Los Angeles City Council directed the CAO to begin discussions and make progress reports on their progress.